Race row: Jeffrey Tucker said plans to combine services of Havering and Newham councils would be like throwing an African football team and an English team together and expecting it to work

A councillor has sparked a race row by claiming that white council officers would not be able to work with their black colleagues.

Jeffrey Tucker, who represents Rainham on Havering Council, said it would be like throwing an African football team and an English team together and expecting it to work.

He slammed proposals to combine the back office services of Havering and Newham councils in east London in a bid to save cash.

Mr Tucker said white staff would find it 'awkward and uncomfortable' to work with black workers.

The shopkeeper's incendiary comments were last night branded 'dangerous' and 'extraordinarily offensive' by a top London Assembly member.

Mr Tucker, who leads the Independent Residents' Group that includes Havering's only black councillor, also stuck the boot in to neighbouring Newham by labelling it 'filthy'.

The married dad said he's been losing sleep over the staff merger because he's so worried by it.

Mr Tucker, who's owned Rainham Goldmine jewellery shop for 23 years, said: 'I think it's a terrible idea. I can't see the two councils being able to work together. We've got 95 per cent white English workers in Havering Council and Newham Council is 95 per cent not white English.'

The local councillor added: 'It would be like putting two football teams together - an African team and an English team - and saying: "Get on and work together".'

Mr Tucker said that working with Newham authority officers would be like being 'pushed in at the deep end' for Havering's workforce.

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But Andrew Boff, London Assembly's Conservative group leader, said he was 'dumbstruck' by the attack.

Mr Boff, 55, said: 'There's an inference that people of African origin can't get on with people who are ethnically white. That's deeply offensive. I can't understand why, in 2013, this councillor seems to think that an attitude that separates people because of race is OK.'

The leading London Tory added: 'Havering is getting more diverse and he needs to buck up his ideas.

'His comments must be terribly offensive to people in his ward with African heritage.'

Mr Boff, who lives in nearby Barking, has now called for Havering Council to step in and offer Cllr Tucker some urgent 'diversity awareness training'.

'Filthy': In a separate outburst, Cllr Tucker told a council meeting Newham was much dirtier than Havering

Mr Tucker has held Rainham and Wennington since 2002 and won his seat by the biggest majority in Havering in 2010.

The
ward's population is 16 per cent non-white, according to statistics
from the 2011 census, which makes it one of the most diverse in the
borough.

Newham is one of the most ethnically diverse boroughs in the UK.

The 2011 census showed that just 29 per cent of its population is white with about 43 per cent Asian and almost 20 per cent black.

In a separate outburst, Cllr Tucker told a council meeting this week that Newham was much dirtier than Havering.

He told shocked councillors: 'You walk round the streets of Havering and we have clean streets, good shops, good housing stock and a well-run council.

'But Newham's streets aren't clean like our streets. Their shops are open all hours with no control.